They helped foist this tax on us. Contact people in their districts. I would rather see these eight seats switch parties than spend one damn dollar on helping us retain them with these stinking turncoats in there.

Down with the Traitorous Eight. May they each rot for helping The Clown™ win a victory tonight in his campaign to WRECK AMERICA.

Perhaps I was a bit oblique in my initial comment.
By all means, remember and hound the 8 Republicans that voted for this monstrosity, Equally important I think, is to thank the 40 or so Democrats that voted against it. This still faces the Senate, and here in my state, where both Senators are affixed with -D, I hope we can be persuasive in swaying them against this economy crippling legislation.
Forget the MSM spin on things – the vote against cap and trade is more bi-partisan than the vote for.

Correct, Kyle, it is. And it’s exactly what I’ve been saying would happen. If all you’ve got in government is leftists and centrists, that doesn’t constitute a balance in government. This is the result you get.
I’m telling you folks, if this gets signed into law it is a stake in the heart of the American economy. There is no gentle way to put it. If this thing … this bureaucratic nightmare, crosses the oval office desk, America is done. Over.
This is the largest tax increase in American history…… Just at the time when we can least stand the extra taxation. If you really wanna get the economy moving again, the best way is to start domestic drilling. Open up the use of coal or oil natural gas and nuclear. Remove added taxation and let the free market flow. But no, the Democrats want to increase the role of government, decrease the role of private industry, and place the burden for it on the shoulders the American people, and it’s all being pushed under the guise of “climate change”. The concept that man can have any effect whatsoever on the environment as a whole, is little more than fairy tale to begin with. But even assuming that was a real issue, and not a made up one, placing these lead weights on the feet of the American economy in the midst of a recession , is certain to drag the economy to the bottom. It is sheer madness, if recovering from this economy and putting America back on track is it all on the agenda.
To that point, it has become increasingly hard over the last several days and weeks to conclude that actual recovery for the economy is the priority of the Democrats. Given the evidence, the unavoidable conclusion is that they are about intentionally killing America.
I suspect after tonight, I’m going to get somewhat less of an argument on that point now, than I did a number of months ago.

If I’m not mistaken, McHugh has been nominated to be SecArmy. Perhaps this is a little quid pro quo?

I’d love to know what went on in these so-called Republicans’ minds when they voted “yes”. Are they really so stupid as to (A) believe that man-made global warming is real; (B) that crippling our economy is going to stop it; and (C) that this is the best way to go about it? Or did they just get paid off in some way?

Let’s take these in order. Do they believe man-made global warming is real? Yes, I think most of them believe it strongly, even Republicans. Given that they are constantly exposed to that viewpoint from all sides and almost never exposed to the politically-incorrect dissenting view, they don’t know any better.

Do they believe crippling our economy will stop it. Well, they believe they have to “DO SOMETHING”, because of the urgency caused by their belief in manmade global warming. They don’t really know what this will do; they’re not economists or business people, so when Obama insists that it will result in millions of green jobs, how do they know any different?

Do they get paid off in some way? Well, in a sense. They think this will increase campaign contributions from environmental interest groups, or at least persuade such groups to not target them during re-election bids. Based on history, they don’t believe that the general populace of “rationally ignorant” voters will feel strongly enough about this to vote against them for it (or in most cases even pay attention). So they do see a personal advantage.

For both short-sighted, ignorant politicians and typical voters, the connection between cause and effect on this will be cut, just as the connection between government involvement in healthcare up to now and problems in healthcare are never considered in the healthcare debate. It’s always those vicious private sector people, don’t you know. If cap-and-trade passes and we see the inevitable energy price increases that result, it will be those mean, nasty energy companies who will take the heat. And since the law will give them advantages over innovative, upstart competitors, they’ll take that heat and not complain too much, just as the healthcare providers today don’t really talk that much about problems with Medicare and Medicaid – they just try to game the system and get what they can.

There’s a reason a fifty year old book about how government destroys a free country is on the best seller lists. (I saw a lady reading it in the airport just last week.) There’s a reason Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny topped the NYT (the NYT!) list for so many weeks, even though it’s not a particularly great book and doesn’t really contain much that the average QandO commenter doesn’t already know. A part of the populace is starting to make these connections, even though the media and their elected representatives mostly won’t. It’s a small minority of the populace, though, so I don’t know if they can have an effect. The July 4 protests will give us some indications, I think.